ENDANGERED SILVER BACK KILLED, WHO'S AT FAULT

JoesMum

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I am only going to contribute to answer the thread title.

In my opinion the zoo had inadequate fencing to prevent access to the enclosure. Therefore it is to blame.

The parent may have been to blame for lack of supervision, but equally a small child can disappear with the speed of a Horsfield in search of adventure.

Should the gorilla have been shot? That's not the title of this thread.
 

Eric Phillips

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I believe they had to shoot the gorilla. The child's life is more important than the animal! No contest. The reason this decision had to made though is disgusting.

We don't honestly know if this child's life is more important. In 20 years the silverbacks could be extinct causing a flux in ecosystems and this child could be incarcerated for murdering another human. I'm not trying to devalue human life but there are plenty of factors at play. This is why it's such a sad situation.
 

Rue

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I don't fault the zoo whatsoever. This not a 'backyard' zoo that an individual has set up that is subpar. I've been to those.

If you open a facility to the public, you need to ensure that it is safe for its intended reasonable use. This zoo was. No one can foresee every possible unreasonable use that an individual might come up with.

I think part of the fault lies in public perception of zoos as being Walt Disney lovey-dovey. Animals are NOT obligated to behave like cutsie cartoons.

Maybe the answer lies in more security personnel being present. Maybe you do have to have guests sign waivers - just to make them aware of issues?

I know this is an unpopular POV...but I dislike this whole notion that zoos are for children and should be geared towards children. While using Zoos to educate children and garner interest in the 'natural' world is great - this notion that they are playgrounds is quite awful when you think about it.
 

Rue

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We don't honestly know if this child's life is more important. In 20 years the silverbacks could be extinct causing a flux in ecosystems and this child could be incarcerated for murdering another human. I'm not trying to devalue human life but there are plenty of factors at play. This is why it's such a sad situation.

This child could also grow up to be a Mayor of Cincinnati or discover the cure for cancer...so that's not a good argument.

You could argue that 1 human of 7 billion is less valuable than 1 gorilla out of 100,000 - but even that's a rocky road to travel on.

OT: Was this child 3 or 4? You'd think that's a fact that reporters could actually check and report accurately.
 

wellington

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That would have taken too much time to set up.
Not any more time then it already took. The tranq I'm sure is just as easy to grab as a gun. It could have all been done within the same time frame as killing him. Just one extra shot might have had to happen if the stronger tranq didn't work, the the gun is fired
 

Eric Phillips

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This child could also grow up to be a Mayor of Cincinnati or discover the cure for cancer...so that's not a good argument.

You could argue that 1 human of 7 billion is less valuable than 1 gorilla out of 100,000 - but even that's a rocky road to travel on.

OT: Was this child 3 or 4? You'd think that's a fact that reporters could actually check and report accurately.

Yeah you missed the point but that's ok.
 

Rue

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Not any more time then it already took. The tranq I'm sure is just as easy to grab as a gun. It could have all been done within the same time frame as killing him. Just one extra shot might have had to happen if the stronger tranq didn't work, the the gun is fired

Maybe if they had that set up in the first place - as an emergency plan - and had run safety drills so everyone knew what to do, I doubt they did. So...to do that would have required extra thinking, planning and time. They didn't have time.

I'm on the gorilla's side...it's a terrible tragedy and poor guy got the worst of it. But I don't think...in that situation...that the zoo had another viable choice. Hopefully this incident will fuel some useful changes as to how zoos operate, deal with emergencies and the responsibility of the visitors to the zoo.
 

wellington

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Oh, I keep forgetting to add. If this were my child, I would have been in that enclosure trying to sacrifice myself to save my son. If he was going to be killed by the gorilla, I was either going with him or die trying to save him. Nice parents(mother) here. Stand there while saying mommies here. People risk their lives for strangers every day, but a mother didn't risk anything for her son. I guarantee, had that been a mother gorilla with her baby in danger, she would have done something
 

leigti

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One of the zoo officials said that their emergency response team does actually train for these sorts of situations. But there are so many variables that you can't train for everything.
I think the little kid could get into the enclosure much easier than the mother could have.
It seems like some parents have a false sense of security or expectations of public places. They think that once they walk into the door they can just let the kids go, whether it's a zoo, and amusement park, a restaurant whatever.
I really hope that this thing doesn't turn into a big nasty lawsuit, but unfortunately in our society it tends to. Commonsense says it is a sad situation all around, but looking for blame just turns it into a circus.
 

Turtlepete

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Opening up Facebook currently is like being slapped in the face by distasteful Harambe memes and tons of social networkers who have suddenly obtained zoology degrees.

The mother is at fault and should rightly be incarcerated and prosecuted for negligence. People go to jail for child abuse for so much less, yet no blame has fallen on this mother. Instead this has been used as a rallying point for animals rights morons to try to force zoos to give up their animals.

The zoo can't be blamed for "insufficient fencing". They have the same fencing as every other fencing in the country has, given that they ALL follow the exact same regulations set in place to assure they have adequate and secure housing for the animals they care for. The zoo can not be expected to go above and beyond with perimeter fencing to prevent one stupid mother from allowing her child to do what he should not have been able to do under proper supervision.

Nor can the zoo staff be blamed. I just about puke every time I see some Facebook warrior commenting how whoever shot it should be prosecuted for animal abuse. Yes, because obviously the casual Facebook warrior had more love for a gorilla they had never met and never knew existed before this catastrophe than the zookeepers that had spent a decade with the animal. Anyone who thinks they wanted to shoot that gorilla is certifiably nuts. A child's life was at risk and they did what it took to save his life. Was he in immediate danger of losing his life? Probably not. Could other measures have been employed other than killing the gorilla? Absolutely. But these things happen in the span of a few minutes. The zoo staff did what they felt was necessary in the heat of the moment.

And as far as the argument for "insufficient fencing" on the zoo's part goes, I would like to point out something. One of the many purposes of zoos is to foster a connection between humans and animals. Countless environmentalists, ecologists, conservationists, anyone who did something important in the field of animals likely connected with those animals in a zoo setting. Had they never been to a zoo, all of their accomplishments would have never happened. Zoos play an integral part in fostering this connection and, hopefully, convincing people and children to give a damn about these animals and help do what it takes to save them.

Every new barrier we erect makes this connection fainter and fainter. I remember as a child going to Lion Country Safari (any other Floridians been there?). You could drive right through a safari park with lions walking around your car. Amazing! Nowadays, there are four trip wires, two fences and four men in trucks to watch you, all separating you from those lions nearly a hundred yards away. What kind of interaction is this? What child is going to catch a glimpse of fur and suddenly be infatuated by that animal, and be inspired to spend his life trying to save them? None. I for one would like to remain being able to see animals within 100 yards of me at a zoo. I would be quite pissed off if I lost that ability because of one negligent mother and her child.
 

african cake queen

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I went shopping on Saturday at the supermarket . A young child in the shopping cart, kept standing up in the cart. I told both parents, twice, your baby is going to fall to the floor, could you watch him? Later the baby fell from the cart and thank God, fell in with the red meats and not the floor. Dam, that store should have a meat enclosure. I wasn't the only person telling these parents to watch the child. They(bad parents) are all around us.
 

Jodie

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We don't honestly know if this child's life is more important. In 20 years the silverbacks could be extinct causing a flux in ecosystems and this child could be incarcerated for murdering another human. I'm not trying to devalue human life but there are plenty of factors at play. This is why it's such a sad situation.
Yes, we do honestly know that human life is more important than animal life.
 

mark1

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are the car manufacturers responsible for the parents that leave their kids to die in a hot car ? they have cars that can drive themselves , certainly they could make one to tell you your baby is still in the car ? this is completely and solely the moms fault .... it's estimated there are 181,000,000 visitors to zoos annually , so they should have to make adjustments so one negligent visitor out of 181 million cannot harm themselves or their kids ? the cleveland zoo has a train to get you around , a kid could more easily run out in front of it than get in with any of the animals ..... the fact there are a portion of folks think the zoo is at fault , imo , speaks poorly for our future .... there are times when you absolutely cannot lose track of your 3yr old kid , and standing next to a 20 foot fall with a gorilla at the bottom would be one ........ in yellowstone every year some idiot gets off the boardwalk for a selfie with the geysers , or some numbnut tries to pet a buffalo , or approach a bear ............... here's the new fence , it's 42" tall , what's next is parents standing their kids on the fence so they can see , and the unattended kids under 42" climbing up on it to see .......
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wellington

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I went shopping on Saturday at the supermarket . A young child in the shopping cart, kept standing up in the cart. I told both parents, twice, your baby is going to fall to the floor, could you watch him? Later the baby fell from the cart and thank God, fell in with the red meats and not the floor. Dam, that store should have a meat enclosure. I wasn't the only person telling these parents to watch the child. They(bad parents) are all around us.
And some parents would want to sue the store for not having, oh I don't know, a cage on the cart instead of just a seat belt which they obviously didn't use.
 

african cake queen

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And some parents would want to sue the store for not having, oh I don't know, a cage on the cart instead of just a seat belt which they obviously didn't use.
There was a belt, not used. I thought the kid was going to crack his head open. Seems they think the village should help watch their kids.
 

wellington

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There was a belt, not used. I thought the kid was going to crack his head open. Seems they think the village should help watch their kids.
I never believed in it takes a village. I had one kid and that's all I'm raising. If people would pay more attention to raising their kids, they would need a village.
 

ColleenT

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The child took more than 10 seconds to get in there. probably a few minutes. Mom was warned by the child that he was going in there. She STILL turned her back on a 4 yr old child. Kidnappers or anything else could have happened in that amount of time. I totally blame the mother, and i think she should be held responsible for this tragedy.
 
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